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Okay so they’re definitely geeky, but I love advanced search operators. For those of you who haven’t geeked out your Googling lately, advanced search operators are phrases that you add into your search query that have special meaning to the search engine during a search. These aren’t just for Google – All of the major search engines offer advanced search operators, but since you’re already Googling, let’s check out some ways you can pimp out your search.

For Rookies:

Cache: Shows you the most recent cached version of a webpage, and highlights the keyword phrase you’re searching. What it’s good for: Determining the last time Google cached a particular webpage and seeing how well a page is optimized for any give keyword phrase.

What your search would look like:

Link: Returns webpages that have links to the specified webpage. What it’s good for – Well, not much these days since Google doesn’t disclose all the links when you use this operator anymore. However, it’s still worth knowing this operator so you can do some research on your own site, and on competitor sites, but Yahoo SiteExplorer will give you better results these days.

What your search will look like:

Related: Shows you pages that Google thinks are related to any given webpage. What it’s good for – Learning more about what Google thinks of your site through association. By identifying sites that Google thinks are related to your site, and to competitor sites, you can find some good link building targets. Okay, and if you’re an avid online shopper like me, you can use this to find stores similar to the one you’re shopping.

What your search will look like:

Site: This operator is super useful when used in combination with a keyword phrase, either to limit your search to one site, or to exclude one site altogether. For example, if you wanted to find sites that included the phrase “NCAA Champion” but you didn’t want your search to include The University of Kansas website (@MrHallas), your search would look like this:

Or let’s suppose you wanted to find out which pages of a site contain a specific keyword phrase? In that case you would use the site: operator in combination with the keyword phrase, like this:

For SEO’s:

If your in charge of optimizing websites for your own business or for clients, then you most likely have used long strings of advanced operators to find very SEO-specific information about your website or competitors’ sites. For example, when evaluating the competition for any given keyword phrase, you most likely want to know how many pages are in Google’s index that include that specific keyword phrase in the title tag, in anchor text, and in the url string, all of which are factors that help with search engine optimization. And of course, you don’t want your client’s site included in the search since you only want to see competitor information. In that case, you’d spit out something crazy looking like this:

intitle:funny intitle:tshirts inanchor:funny inanchor:funny inurl:funny inurl:tshirts -site:fishpie.com
*Fictitious client site used for the purpose of this exercise.

For Socialites:

Bored with the SEO-flavored advanced search operators? Don’t worry, Google has something in store for you social media butterflies too. For instance, maybe you’d like to find some interesting people to follow or reach out to on Twitter. Maybe you own a new winery and you’re looking to connect with some wine bloggers. You could tell Google to find people on twitter whose bio includes the phrase “wine blogger” with this nifty search:

There is an excellent post with more social media related searches here, thanks to DSG for sharing.

For Laziness:

Movies: If you’re like me, you can’t ever remember how to spell Wehrenberg anyway, so use the lazy person’s route to finding moving times and locations with movie:

Weather: Yahoo repeatedly asks me to enter my zipcode to get the weather, even when I’m logged in, which has been annoying me for quite a long time now. It’s much easier to use the weather: operator in Google, but unfortunately it’s not any better at predicting St. Louis weather than our local weather forecasters.

If you’re super lazy, bookmark this guide for the lazy searcher compliments of Google.

About the Author
Erin Steinbruegge is a Partner at The Loud Few who specializes in interactive marketing strategy. You can learn more about her here or follow her on twitter at twitter.com/steinburglar.

Oh, I’m sorry. You probably thought this was real a real merit badge. Well, it’s not real in the sense that the Boy Scouts of America is offering a social media award, but we’re giving away our own version of the Social Media Merit Badge, checkout the box below for more details.

If you are not up for the contest, below you will find a list of some general criteria for what what we think it takes to consider yourself a social media expert.

If you can answer yes to all 17 qualifications, congrats…you are all over it! If you can answer yes to at least 12 of these, consider yourself merit badge worthy.

Twitter Challenges

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1. You run more than one Twitter account
If you are truly active on Twitter you probably have told our boss or your friend “with the band” that they need to be on Twitter, and you probably have found yourself managing that Twitter feed for them to some degree of effectiveness. If you’re sporting multiple identities on Twitter, give yourself a point for this one.

2. You use a third party tool to manage Twitter activity
Twitter.com (the website itself, not the service) just isn’t going to cut it after you are following more than 20 people – there are literally thousands of tools out there, most of them a lot of the same, but as a concept they are invaluable. If you aren’t currently using a 3rd party tool to manage Twitter, just consider yourself disqualified for the merit badge at this point – or take a step towards joining the ranks by checking out TweetDeck and HootSuite, or find a gaggle of tools at oneforty.com. Otherwise give yourself a point.

3. You use Twitter lists
Once again, if you following more than 20 people, it’s time to start getting organized. If you are like me, they didn’t add this feature until your following list was already a mess, but it doesn’t take a great deal of work to get this organized. If you are using Twitter lists, give yourself a point.

4. You have attempted and failed at convincing 10 friends the greatness of Twitter
Who isn’t a Twitter evangelist? Lots of people aren’t, and if you are not one of them shame on you, no point. If you are screaming praises about Twitter while sitting at the stop light and every other chance you get, give yourself a point.

5. You’ve met someone face-to-face that you met through Twitter
Tweet-ups, interviews, blind-dates – if you’ve met someone on Twitter outside of a mutual connection, you are either breaking the law or building your network, give yourself a point, you social butterfly you.

6. You’ve been mentioned in a follow friday
Follow Friday’s – love them or hate them – you can’t earn this Merit Badge without being blasted on one of these. #followfriday = 1 point.

7. You’ve actually seen the fail whale
Ah, the elusive fail whale. Known to the entire world but only actually seen by 13% of all Twitter users (source: fabricated). If you have seen this white beauty in real life, give yourself a point.

Facebook Challenges

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8. You have built or been part of building a Facebook application
Just because you’re not a developer doesn’t mean you haven’t had a chance to be a part of building a Facebook application. If you work, and you live and breathe social media, you should have some Facebook app experience under your belt, give yourself a point if you qualify.

9. You have friends on Facebook you have never met
New Facebook uses seem to think they can control their friends list, and even funnier is that these users think there is some kind of sanctity to keep this so. If you are merit badge worthy, your online travels have brought you many Facebook friends from around the globe whom you have never met….and probably never will. Get over it and give yourself a point.

Blog Challenges

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10. You follow RSS Feeds
“Dude, RSS is like so 2001. I get all the news I need from the 5,000 people I follow on Twitter.” Yeah, and you don’t know anything because you try to know everything. Get a good RSS reader and keep your feeds #’s to a manageable, organized and digestible amount. Using an RSS reader and actually keeping the count down to 0 a few times a week? Give yourself a point.

11. You’ve published a few blog posts in your day
You take and you take and you take, have you given anything back? I understand if you just didn’t have time to keep up with it, but if you haven’t ever given blogging a shot you just can’t consider yourself merit badge worthy. If you are pro, semi-pro, or retired blogger, give yourself a point.

12. You’ve done your fair share of commenting on blogs
These guys work hard to entertain you, show them some love. And if you make their lives hell by making a every post about a cell phone a fanboy-rant-fest about how great the iPhone is, then consider yourself merit badge “not-worthy”. Show bloggers love on a consistent basis? give yourself a point.

Location Service Challenges

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13. You have given Foursquare or Gowalla a chance
Ah, the latest trend. Geo -Checkout-Where-am-I-Now-Bragfest. Ok, I do it too (otherwise how would I earn my merit badge…). These tools aren’t for everyone, but you’ve got to at least try it out, right? If you’ve experimented give yourself a point, even if you aren’t hooked yet.

14. You are the mayor of something on a location service
Bonus point opportunity here…even I am not a mayor of anything. If you are a mayor give yourself a point. If you don’t know what this is, you’ve got some studying to do cub.

Technology Challenges

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15. You use social media on a smartphone
Before we move on to the fun stuff, I am going to get a bit serious on you. If you want to tell people you are active and understand social media, you must have a smart phone that allows you to interact with social media on a regular basis. Social media is as much about mobility as it is about sharing. (some stats here) If you are driving your significant other crazy with your late night bed-side socializing, give yourself a point.

Fun Challenges

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16. You’ve bad-mouthed MySpace
This trend is slowly dying, but its so much damn fun. If you haven’t bad-mouthed MySpace in some way, they you just can’t rightfully say you deserve a merit badge. Give yourself a point if you’ve slammed MySpace, and hang your head high if you saw the writing on the wall and deleted your account before 2008.

17. You’ve been Rick Rolled
This one will be featured in the main hallway of the Social Media Hall of Fame one day, I personally would love to meet the guy who started this one. If you’ve been Rick Rolled give yourself a point.

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The merit badge image used at the top of this post is courtesy of Laughing Squid and you can buy these badges over at Nerd Merit Badge. To win one of these badges in our Merit Badge Challenge checkout the box at the top of this post.

A company not active in social media will have a hard time addressing a crisis like HP did. During the peak of the holiday selling season, the social sphere was abuzz with links to a YouTube video, titled “HP Computers are Racist.” The genesis of the video was a motion detector on an HP Web cam that could not acknowledge a black face.

HP responded to negative posts at myriad social media sites within a few hours. It extinguished the flame with an apology, an explanation of the technology and the fact it was working on the glitch. “The fact that HP had a social media strategy balanced the Google search sphere at a critical time when people were shopping and comparing for their holiday purchase,” says Rodney Mason, CMO, Moosylvania http://www.moosylvania.com/ .

It’s not hard to realize that HP avoided losing a lot of sales by taking action rather than standing by and letting the crisis smear company’s name.

Read Full Article

Interesting to see mobile was not mentioned in this article with all the early success CPG brands are finding with their mobile initiatives.
 
A Deloitte survey in November found 19% of Americans noting they would use their mobile devices for shopping during the holiday season. The number for 18 to 29 year olds was more than double at 39%.  Phones were reported to be used to find store locations, obtain coupons and sales information and research products and prices. One-quarter of all who planned to use their phones to shop reported they would make purchases on the devices.
 
Additionally, according to “User View Wave VII” from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat the overwhelming majority of US Internet users research online to find local products and services.
 
The most common online tool is search. Given smart phone penetration reaching almost 1/3 of all phones in the US, which will eclipse computers when it does, mobile search – especially Organic Search, alone is and should be an important "Shopper Marketing Tool."
 
Additionally, Gartner, a leading think tank for the technology industry recently forecast that within three years, world wide, smart phones will be the #1 way people access the web.
 
Right now consumers are picking up their e-mail and social media messages on their phones.  They’re using Google and search engines for more information on their phones too.  For many, mobile is the low cost entry to the internet vs. a computer and broadband service.
 
GPS, Bluetooth and other self-identifying, opt-in technologies already have the ability for one-to-one communication and are being used in “Shopper Marketing Programs” around the world, which should make mobile, at the very least, a tremendous and significant "Shopper Marketing Tool."
 
We cover the emerging trends changing the marketing landscape today and over the next 10 years.  Mobile is our top pick.  We also have a special on-line engine, The Moose Tracker, that is updated weekly with top mobile and social media programs from around the world.  All are available free on site under "Insights

Read Full Article

What if lower calorie brands used social media to educate students and
their parental figures about the impact lower calorie drink options can
make in improving their overall wellness now and down the road?

It could move advocates to action, create a movement and make for a
valued "give-back" to society, so many consumers, (especially moms with
kids in the home and Gen Y), and brands long for.

We cover the importance of giving back to appeal to both moms and Gen Y
in special reports covering both important audiences, available free on
our site under Insights.

Read Full Article

In order to build an effective online marketing strategy for your business, it’s important to understand the theory behind what we call “push” and “pull” strategies, and how they can be utilized together to drive optimal results.

Let’s use a hypothetical example to illustrate this concept:

Suppose it’s February and you’ve invented the world’s greatest stadium noisemakers. Called “The Loudinator”, these things put Thundersticks and Bam Bams to shame. You’ve just invested a lot of money into producing your line of MLB specific Loudinators, and you’ve built an e-commerce website that is ready to handle sales. Now you just need to generate awareness of your product before MLB Opening Day.

Push strategy involves any marketing strategy that “pushes” its way in front of users without the user initiating the request. Push marketing is great for generating brand awareness, promoting a new product or service, or delivering a time-sensitive message.

Examples of some push marketing tactics you could use to generate awareness of your new product:

• Display advertising – Run display ads and video ads on relevant websites such as sports blogs and sports news websites.
• Mobile ads – Target ads at users who are within a certain mile radius of baseball stadiums, or who are searching for baseball-related phrase from their mobile phone.
• E-mail campaigns – Build an email list and distribute product information and promotions such as spring-training discount offers.
• Sponsorships – Sponsor sporting events or sports news shows.
• Partnerships – Partner with bloggers and affiliates who will help push the product for you.

If all goes well, your push marketing will generate awareness of this glowing (or roaring) new product and stimulate demand. Once people are aware of The Loudinator, they will most likely begin searching for it and discussing it online. This is when your pull strategy comes into play.
Pull strategy involves reeling in users who are actively looking for your content – The user has initiated the request and you are simply reaching out to fulfill it for them.

Examples of some pull marketing tactics you could use to bring users to your website:

• Search engine optimization – Make sure that your site ranks highly not just for your specific brand or product name, but for related products such as Thundersticks, Bam Bams and fan gear.
• Pay Per Click Advertising – Run targeted ads on the search network that promote your product with compelling messages such as “Buy The Original Loudinator” and “Free Shipping.” Since your ads will only run when someone searches for your product or related products, these ads will be highly relevant and effective at pulling the user in.
• Utilize Social Media – Allow users to actively interact with your brand on social networks and begin tracking conversations that involve relevant keyword phrases such as “Loudinator” and “baseball.” Try to engage those users and reach out to them about your product. Social media is an excellent example of push and pull happening at the same time.
• Start Blogging – Create a blog and add content that your users will find amusing, such as posts that contain photos of the world’s craziest dressed fans using your product. Allow users to post comments on your blog, and be sure to respond. Don’t forget to make it easy for users to subscribe to your blog via an RSS reader or email.

Although people need to be aware of your product or service before then can actively go looking for it, it’s important to note that push and pull strategy doesn’t happen in a linear fashion. For optimal results, the planning of both strategies often needs to take place simultaneously, and the implementation of many of the pull strategies actually needs to begin before the push. This is because tactics such as search engine optimization can take several months to achieve results; and it takes quite a bit of time and content to grow an active user base for blogs and social media. You want to make sure that you have all the right pieces in place to convert a user to a sale as soon as they go looking for your product.

About the Author
Erin Steinbruegge is a Partner at The Loud Few and specializes in interactive marketing strategy. You can learn more about her here or follow her on twitter at twitter.com/steinburglar.

I talk with a lot of clients about search engine marketing strategy, particularly the benefits of developing an online marketing plan that incorporates both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. Most business owners who are new to SEO or PPC strategy ask similar questions, and typically these questions relate to the “how’s” of the strategy and the type of results that can be expected. This particular post is dedicated to a question that I surprisingly hear quite frequently in regards to PPC advertising:

“Does anyone actually click on those ads?”

Fortunately, due to the nature of how Pay Per Click advertising works, it’s an easy question to answer. PPC advertising is a multibillion dollar industry that can only generate revenue when users click on the ads. No clicks = No cost to advertisers. If we examine PPC Adspend Data, it becomes clear that the answer is “Yes, many people are clicking on those ads.”

Moreover, not only are visitors clicking on PPC ads, but they are converting into a sale or lead at a respectable rate. In fact, PPC advertising has proven to be so effective that it was named by U.S. Senior Level Marketing Executives as the third most successful tactic for generating conversions:

Although it’s difficult to put an exact number of the amount of times a user will click on a sponsored ad over an organic search result since there are so many variables to that equation (what they are searching for and what their end goal is for example), here are a few reasons why people are clicking on PPC ads:

• Over the past 10 years ad serving technology has improved greatly, allowing the search engines to deliver ads that are more relevant to a user’s search.
• As marketing budgets have increasingly moved online, advertisers and online marketers have become more sophisticated with PPC, making their campaigns more relevant.
• Users have become more familiar and more trusting of ads. With the Google Network reaching 80% of Internet users worldwide, most people have experienced PPC advertising in some form or another.

PPC advertising is a great way to reach your target audience in a way that is both cost-effective and measurable. Lots of people are utilizing PPC ads to find what they are searching for online – Don’t miss out on the opportunity to reach them!

About the Author
Erin Steinbruegge is a Partner at The Loud Few and specializes in interactive marketing strategy. You can learn more about her here or follow her on twitter at twitter.com/steinburglar.

Moose was abuzz last week when a local TV crew showed up unannounced to interview Tyler Davis, one of our Account Coordinators. They were doing a story on PleaseRobMe.com, which you can check out here.

So after all the watercooler talk and feisty comments on KSDK's website, we invited Tyler to write a response…

My recent run in with KSDK as the “Potential Target” on their “Please Rob Me” story was rather eye opening. Not because I learned that they were able to track me down and find out where I worked. Rather I was more surprised at the lack of information they chose to report on social media sites such as Twitter and Foursquare. Instead, they focused on scare-tactics.

PleaseRobMe.com, which is basically a Twitter search for all Foursquare posts, states their goal is “. . . to raise some awareness on this issue [online privacy] and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc.”

Foursquare, the newest and emerging social media, allows consumers to check in at certain locations, ping it across their social networks and earn points in the meantime. (It’s a little more complicated than that but those are the basics). 

So because of Foursquare’s nature, KSDK reported that PleaseRobMe.com is “A new website [that] lets potential crooks know when you’re not at home.” However, as the website states, this is not the case. Rather it is an over exaggerated way to raise awareness.

I agree completely with PleaseRobMe.com’s mission and believe that in the social media world, you have to be aware of what information you offer up. You need to keep your personal information private. That’s why I don’t publish my address or phone number on my social networks. That’s also why, when KSDK showed up at Moosylvania with a microphone in my face, they were unable to clearly identify my correct home address.

Sure if you dig hard enough online, you can find public records with my address attached. But that doesn’t mean when I check in on Foursquare that my roommates aren’t home or my alarm isn’t set or my dog isn’t hungry for human flesh.

New to St. Louis, I personally joined Foursquare to learn more about the city. I am able to see where my friends have been or check in and invite them to join me. Truly, it’s an online network that allows me to be social. 

As a marketer on the other hand, I use social media to explore and understand how consumers interact with it. In fact, both Bravo TV and Pepsi have recently joined forces with Foursquare to offer up specific check-ins and badges to consumers. Having this knowledge and understanding emerging media makes me a better marketer.

Since the KSDK airing, I haven’t shied away from Foursquare. Rather, I’ve embraced it. As of right now, I’m the mayor of Moosylvania. (How many entry-level account coordinators can say they’re mayor of their company?)

I encourage everyone to check actually check out Foursquare. Hopefully, the KSDK article piqued your interest instead of scared you away. If you do want to learn more, I suggest starting with this article from Mashable or this one from AdAge. 
 

Whether you are designing your own website or providing creative direction for your new website design, you’re going to need some inspirational resources to stay on top of the latest design trends. Below is a list of some of our favorite resources for website design inspiration.

Each of these resources has specific characteristics that make them great for a holistic approach to getting your website design juices flowing. If you have ideas for alternatives to these be sure to share them in the comments.

1. Concept Inspiration

ffffound.com — This site straight up rocks. There is literally an endless supply of new images coming in on an hourly basis, and nearly all of it is top quality. The beauty of this site is that – while anyone can browse – only invited guests can post. This keep the content quality consistently high. Be sure to save your favorites to a special "inspiration" folder on your desktop – just don’t use them without permission!

2. Feature-Specific Inspiration

patterntap.com — Pattern Tap is good for finding inspiration for specific features like navigation, contact forms, signup processes, and photo galleries. This is a great tool for web designers to brainstorm ideas with clients, or clients to help explain why they feel their designers execution isn’t working for them.

3. Design Inspiration by Category

emberapp.com — Ember App is a great website design resources for staying on top of the latest trends in design, such as cool features like dominos order tracking widget or iPad design inspiration. Ember App has an active community so there is always new content being added.

4. Feedback on Your Ideas

conceptfeedback.com — Have some ideas that could use some constructive feedback? Concept Feedback lets you upload your designs (or the designs your designer created for you) and lets you get specific feedback. This can be used for logo and other creative as well. If you are not ready for feedback on your design, this is a great resource for inspiration as well.

5. Typography Inspiration

myfonts.com — Good typography is not just for logos anymore – good fonts are an integral part of great website design. On MyFonts you can browse by font type, bookmark fonts you like, and even customize the text to see exactly what your copy will look like with each font. The fonts aren’t free, but the prices are fair.

6. Get Specific

google.com — Google huh? Yep – Google is a great resource for great website design inspiration – not for anything they are necessarily doing themselves, but because of all of the great sites out there like Smashing Magazine and Freelance Switch that continually create great content about things like "35 Beautiful E-Commerce Websites" and "34 Places to Get Design Inspiration". If you are looking for something specific, search for it on Google and you are bound to find something to get you going on your project.